Residents want better ballfield

Residents
are urging the Northport City Council to help take care of the baseball field at Hasson Center Park, where the YMCA championship baseball team
practices.

Staff photo | Robert Sutton

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

Published: Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 10:29 p.m.

NORTHPORT | The Northport Tigers youth baseball team began as one man’s way to keep children out of trouble.

But in the five years since Donald Jones first fielded a team of 11- and

12-year-old youngsters on private contributions and donated uniforms, he’s built a team of champions.

Last year, the Tigers won their age division within the Benjamin Barnes YMCA youth baseball organization.

And Jones’ 9- and 10-year-old squad, the Mariners, spawned from the popularity of the Tigers, also won its division within the YMCA.

Now, Jones and other community advocates are urging the city of Northport to invest in the baseball field at the Robert Hasson Community Center on 12th Street, where the Tigers and Mariners practice.

“I grew up in that community,” Jones said, “and a lot of people on that very same field kept me on the straight and narrow.”

Jones, 38, listed Hasson, the former Northport councilman for whom the community center is named, as well as Larry Gray and Newbern Prewitt, two men who dedicated their time to teaching young men the game of baseball.

“They encouraged us to stay out of trouble by getting into sports,” Jones said, “and lot of us turned out trouble-free in life.”

So far, his efforts are paying off with his own squads. Of the 12 members on last year’s Tigers team, eight of them were on their school honor roll, Jones said.

To build on that success, Jones and Jay Logan, a former Northport City Council candidate who sees himself as an advocate for this community, are hoping an investment from City Hall will open the doors to other children in the area.

“I grew up in that district,” said Logan, who lives near the 14th Street house that he grew up in. “I’d like to see that district move in a more positive direction.”

He appeared at last week’s Northport City Council meeting to make the plea in person.

Logan would like to see permanent bleachers added to the field, lighting for evening and night games and practices, and the construction of dugouts for the playing teams.

His request did not fall on deaf ears, but Councilman Lorenzo Freeman, who represents the district in which the Hasson baseball field lies, said changes don’t come overnight.

Freeman has been aware that the park and field need work, which is why he’s spent the last 18 months or so securing the more than $500,000 it’s going to take to place pipe in two open drainage flumes and cover them with dirt.

This will accomplish three things, Freeman said. It will eliminate a mosquito spawning ground and give another access, from 10th Street, into the park while adding a larger parking lot.

The only access into the park, which is in the valley of two hills, is from 12th Street. Neighbors in the area said some events, including the one baseball game that the Tigers hosted at the field, can sometimes draw enough vehicles to block parking lots.

But all in all, residents said they’d like to see the park improved, seeing it as an improvement to this predominantly black community.

<p>NORTHPORT | The Northport Tigers youth baseball team began as one man’s way to keep children out of trouble.</p><p>But in the five years since Donald Jones first fielded a team of 11- and </p><p>12-year-old youngsters on private contributions and donated uniforms, he’s built a team of champions.</p><p>Last year, the Tigers won their age division within the Benjamin Barnes YMCA youth baseball organization.</p><p>And Jones’ 9- and 10-year-old squad, the Mariners, spawned from the popularity of the Tigers, also won its division within the YMCA.</p><p>Now, Jones and other community advocates are urging the city of Northport to invest in the baseball field at the Robert Hasson Community Center on 12th Street, where the Tigers and Mariners practice.</p><p>I grew up in that community, Jones said, and a lot of people on that very same field kept me on the straight and narrow.</p><p>Jones, 38, listed Hasson, the former Northport councilman for whom the community center is named, as well as Larry Gray and Newbern Prewitt, two men who dedicated their time to teaching young men the game of baseball.</p><p>They encouraged us to stay out of trouble by getting into sports, Jones said, and lot of us turned out trouble-free in life.</p><p>So far, his efforts are paying off with his own squads. Of the 12 members on last year’s Tigers team, eight of them were on their school honor roll, Jones said.</p><p>To build on that success, Jones and Jay Logan, a former Northport City Council candidate who sees himself as an advocate for this community, are hoping an investment from City Hall will open the doors to other children in the area.</p><p>I grew up in that district, said Logan, who lives near the 14th Street house that he grew up in. I’d like to see that district move in a more positive direction.</p><p>He appeared at last week’s Northport City Council meeting to make the plea in person.</p><p>Logan would like to see permanent bleachers added to the field, lighting for evening and night games and practices, and the construction of dugouts for the playing teams.</p><p>His request did not fall on deaf ears, but Councilman Lorenzo Freeman, who represents the district in which the Hasson baseball field lies, said changes don’t come overnight.</p><p>Freeman has been aware that the park and field need work, which is why he’s spent the last 18 months or so securing the more than $500,000 it’s going to take to place pipe in two open drainage flumes and cover them with dirt.</p><p>This will accomplish three things, Freeman said. It will eliminate a mosquito spawning ground and give another access, from 10th Street, into the park while adding a larger parking lot.</p><p>The only access into the park, which is in the valley of two hills, is from 12th Street. Neighbors in the area said some events, including the one baseball game that the Tigers hosted at the field, can sometimes draw enough vehicles to block parking lots.</p><p>But all in all, residents said they’d like to see the park improved, seeing it as an improvement to this predominantly black community.</p><p>They need to do something down there, said 12th Street resident Melissa Powell, 28.</p><p>Powell’s three children sometimes play in the park, but the lack of bleachers doesn’t provide her a place to sit down.</p><p>With some bleachers and lights, she and others said they believe it would benefit the neighborhood.</p><p>It’d help a whole lot, she said.</p><p>Freeman said he’s all for the placement of lights, bleachers and dugouts on the field, especially following the interest and use the field is getting already.</p><p>We’re working on them, he said. I can think of nothing better than helping a bunch of kids.</p><p>Jones said he hopes Freeman and the council follow through. That way, he believes he’ll be able to assist even more children.</p><p>Our program is not primarily baseball, Jones said. We try to make them be better, productive citizens.</p><p>Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0200.</p>